Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

purplemeat9 It's the Velvet Underground in 1966 so it would be difficult to make this bad. Pretty much the only way it could be ruined is if the cameraman zoomed in and out rapidly for 10 minutes... 20 minutes... 30 minutes... which, in fact, is the case. It's absolutely nauseating. While this might not bother some, it certainly bothered me.I guess what the cameraman was trying to do was treat the camera like it was an instrument. The other effects don't detract from this document, and the zoom wouldn't even be that bad if it was used a little more sparingly. On occasions, though, I really wish the camera was strictly used as a means to record this moment in time. John Cale plays something really wicked looking at one point, but you never really get a good look at it with all the zooming in and out and the tendency to not be focusing on what you want to see.It is still a film worth seeing for any Velvet Underground fan, and if you're a fan of Warhol's films, well, I guess you're used to things that are difficult to watch, so go for it. I definitely understand why this isn't commercially available. I'm glad I saw it, but I wouldn't be disappointed if I never saw it again.

memfree There are a few other bits of footage of the band, but this is the only rentable film known to exist. Anyone have home movies with synched sound? ... If so, want to make some money? (well, don't look at me, others have deeper pockets).Yes, there is footage of Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable with VU, but the sound isn't from *that* performance. More accurate is the footage of the band tying up Moe. Like this film (VU & Nico), you actually hear the band members speaking and such in the tie-up-Moe film, but they aren't playing instruments, and there's no Nico.Therefore, fans simply MUST see this film is all its wandering, unfocused glory. Lay back and let the noise wash you away.

InjunNose Certainly not the best introduction to the Velvet Underground, this extended, monotonal jam filmed at Andy Warhol's Factory still has hints of the band's weird, fractured magic. It's difficult to watch (god, that "cinematography"!) but footage of the Velvets is so scarce that any true fan will gladly watch this film time and time again. After all, where else can you see Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Moe Tucker in their black leather and sunglasses? (They didn't look like this in the 1993 reunion film!) Aside from scraping one of Warhol's palette knives against the strings of Cale's bass, Nico doesn't really contribute much, but that's okay. The music sounds similar to the instrumental sections of 'Run Run Run' and 'European Son (To Delmore Schwartz)' on the band's first album. There are no vocals. Listen to the first two records by the Velvets--"The Velvet Underground and Nico" and "White Light/White Heat"--and you'll be able to appreciate the film much more keenly.

mingus_x wonderful meditative music (at the beginning a cloud of noise, after 20 minutes it gets you and suddenly(after 70 minutes) the film is stopped by the police and you don't want to leave the cinema, because you got to have more of it). a miracle has happened, you can be sure. every one in the band is sitting and playing his instrument (nico and ari play the tambourine) and seem stoic. you don't have to shake your hips like todays music industry owned clowns to capture the audience. the secret formula is in the music not in the faces or bodies. this is a movie as document, not as black and white visual masterpiece, but it works out in the best way you can imagine. try to see and hear it, as soon as you can. on all people that have got something to do with owning the rights to this movie (after the last cd-releases of early john cales dream syndicate stuff and velvet underground live-performances), please publish this on dvd and you will be honored ...